Archive for category Software Use Analysis

IBM BigFix (Endpoint Manager) has released a new Software Usage Analysis (SUA) module. This release includes a number of new capabilities, specifically SQL support. BigFix Inventory (or SUA) also provides IBM sub-capacity measurement capability. IBM has provided a number of installation and administration guides here. In the following article, I’ll step you through the key elements to setup SUA 9.2: Prerequisites

I’d created a new Windows 2008 R2 server to run SUA 9.2. My virtual machine had at least 8GB of memory and 2 vCPU

On the SUA server I had installed Microsoft SQL 2012 and updates

I had installed an IEM Agent and it was reporting back to the IEM server successfully.

From the SUA install screen you’ll want to choose a server which will run SUA. For small environments, SUA could run on the same server as IEM. However as you grow beyond several thousand endpoints, you’ll want to dedicate a separate server for SUA 9.2. Select that server and click Deploy Installer.

SUA 9.2 will then show you the following screen as it downloads the SUA 9.2 software and then mirrors it to that server. In my lab environment this took about 10 minutes. You can check the progress of the download by looking at the running Actions too:

On the SUA 9.2 server (my server was called SFTSGSUA9 – as it’s on Softlayer) I ran the installer setup-server-windows-x86_64.bat (as an Administrator).

During the SUA 9.2 installation, select the default including accepting the license agreement. Change the default installation path if required:

I select the default https port 9081 in my environment (you could choose another port if required)

I selected System Account and finally reviewed the settings before clicking Install

When SUA was completed I was shown the following screen:

Click on Done and a web browser is then launched to complete the SUA 9.2 configuration. You might need to click the certificate warning in your web browser. I entered the following information below to configure SUA.

After the import was completed (which did take a few hours in my lab), the SUA 9.2 application was then launched:

Back in the IEM console I could click Finish and configure it with the URL of my IEM9TSUA2 server:

Now SUA 9.2 is up and running, we’ll now setup the endpoints for SUA scanning.

Setup your Endpoints for SUA scanning

From the IEM console, select System Lifecycle. Then select Software Use Analysis, select Setup – Activate Analysis. You should see seven Analysis as shown in the example below. Activate each of these.

Next select Setup – Deploy Scanner to Endpoints and select Install Scanner, select Take Action. Select Target and select Dynamic target by property and select All Computers, if you want the scanner applied to every computer with an IEM Agent installed. Otherwise you might create a manual group (called SUA 9 clients) and select it instead. Click OK to run the Action. The scanner will then be deployed to the endpoint.

Select Setup – Schedule Scans on Endpoints. Select Initiate Software Scan. Select Target and select Dynamic target by property and select All Computers. Select the Execution tab.By default the scanning process will run every 7 days as shown below. You can change this value if you like. Select OK when complete.

Finally, select Setup – Schedule Uploads on Endpoints. Select the Upload Software Scan Results fixlet. Click OK to run the Action. Select Targetand selectDynamic target by propertyand selectAll Computers. Select the Execution tab. You’ll see below the Fixlet will run anytime new scan results are available and retry this 3 times if there is an error. Select OK when complete.

Note: As mentioned above, it’s probably a good idea to do each of the three items above on a group basis, so that as you deploy additional endpoints they’ll automatically be setup for SUA processing. Software Catalog Update You’ll want to use the latest software catalog from IBM, which we see has been automatically detected within the console. You’ll need to perform a similar task roughly every month as IBM releases new SUA catalogs. The update process is documented within the Fixlet, so check there on what you need to do, especially if you customise the catalog.

Click Upload. Then select Import Now within the SUA console and browse to the file (D:\Program Files\ibm\SUA\sua_catalog) and select the ZIP file.

Click Upload

Note: There is a Fixlet 1002 – Upgrade to the newest Software Usage Analysis 9.x catalog that can be run. This will automatically download the latest catalog to the SUA 9.2 server. The above task of applying this catalog via the SUA console is still required (thank’s David Kosenko for this information).

That’s it! SUA is now up and running and you can easily see what software is installed and being utilised in your company. If you have any problems, please post your query to the new Bigfix forum. Are you benefiting from IBM Endpoint Manager SUA? If so we’d love to hear from you. Darryl

Select Manage Sites, IBM Software Inventory. Under the Computer Subscriptions tab, change the value from No computers to All computers and select Save Changes

Select System Lifecycle – Server Setup and Software Use Analytics. I don’t see any issue with installing the Software Knowledge Base Toolkit (SwKBT) first, however I chose to install SUA 2.0 first. I’ll talk more about the SwKBT below.

From the SUA install screen you’ll want to choose a server which will run SUA. For small environments, SUA could run on the same server as IEM. However as you grow beyond several thousand endpoints, you’ll want to dedicate a separate server for SUA 2.0. In my lab environment, I chose a separate Windows Server 2008 R2 VM for SUA 2.0 as shown below. Select that server and click Deploy

SUA 2.0 will then show you the following screen as it downloads the SUA 2.0 software and then mirrors it to that server. In my lab environment this took about 10 minutes. You can check the progress of the download by looking at the running Actions too:

On the SUA 2.0 server (my server was called IEM9TSUA2) I ran the installer and completed the install. I left SUA 2.0 running on port 80 in my environment (you could choose another port if required)

A web browser is then launched to complete the SUA 2.0 configuration. It asks you the location of your database (in my case I had setup a separate SUA 2.0 database on a remote Windows SQL 2008 server). I also didn’t worry about migrating my SUA 1.3 information over to SUA 2.0:

The SUA 2.0 application was then launched:

Back in the IEM console I could click Finish and configure it with the URL of my IEM9TSUA2 server as shown)

Now SUA 2.0 is up and running, we’ll now need to install the SwKBT and setup the endpoints for SUA scanning too.

Install and Configure the Software Knowledge Base Toolkit (SwKBT)

The Software Knowledge Base Toolkit (or SwKBT) is a new component of IEM SUA. Think of it as the catalog management service. It requires you to install a separate component, but I’d expect over time this probably won’t be required. In most environments, the SwKBT could easily run alongside SUA 2.0 on the same server. It’s used infrequently – for example as you load in new catalogs or update entries in the catalogs. In my lab environment, I installed the SwKBT on the same VM as SUA.

From the SUA install screen you’ll want to choose a server which will run SwKBT. Select that server and click Deploy Installer. As you see below, the size of the SwKBT is around 650MB so it took well over an hour to download and get mirrored to my SUA2.0 server.

From the IEM console, select System Lifecycle. Then select IBM Software Inventory, select Setup – Activate Analysis. You should see four Analysis as shown in the example below. Activate each of these.

Next select Manage Deployments – Manage Endpoints – Deploy and select Install Scanner, select Take Action. The scanner will then be deployed to the endpoint. Repeat the process for the Install Common Inventory Technology Scanner. Why are there two scanners? See here for further information.

Once the scanner and CIT scanner are deployed to each endpoint, you can then configure the two scanners to run periodically (by default it runs once per week). Select Manage Endpoints – Scan/Upload (note it can take a few minutes before the scanner you’ve deployed is relevant to this Fixlet. I found this was slower for the CIT scanner in my test lab).

Note: It’s probably a good idea to do each of the three items above on a group basis, so that as you deploy additional endpoints they’ll automatically be setup for SUA processing.

Software Catalog Update

You’ll want to use the latest software catalog from IBM, which we see has been automatically detected within the console. You’ll need to perform a similar task roughly every month as IBM releases new SUA catalogs. The update process is documented within the Fixlet, so check there on what you need to do, especially if you customise the catalog.

Click Upload. Then select Import Now within the SUA console (otherwise it will happen automatically at midnight)

Within SUA console, you’ll also need to click on this option to import a Fixlet into the IEM console. This Fixlet is linked to the catalog and will send a small catalog to each endpoint for processing. I found this a little cumbersome, but expect this process will also be simplified in the future. I edited the Fixlet and added – April 2013 at the end (see below) so I knew in the future this Fixlet was for the April catalog.

Click OK then select Take Action to target this CIT catalog download task to your applicable workstations (or group as suggested above)

SUA 2.0 is now available

When you log back into the SUA server you won’t immediately see any software usage information until the clients have sent their data to the server AND the data import task has run (which you’ll remember was once a day). You can run the data import process immediately if you want to see information like the following:

That’s it. SUA is now up and running and you can easily see what software is installed and being utilised in your company. If you’re familiar with SUA 1.3, I found the following Getting Started with Software Use Analysis 2.0 guide useful in adjusting to the console changes in 2.0. If you have any problems, please post your query to the IEM SUA forum.

Are you benefiting from IBM Endpoint Manager SUA? If so we’d love to hear from you.